Sweco to plan new district in Rwanda

18 Feb Rwanda’s government has appointed Sweco to produce a plan for the development of a new district in Kigali.

Rwanda Green Fund CEO Hubert Ruzibiza

The Kinyinya Hill distict is being built as part of a state strategy for the development of sustainable and energy-efficient living spaces.

“Sweco will work closely together with residents and public authorities to support the implementation of Rwanda’s sustainability strategy,” said Sweco Germany & Central Europe president Ina Brandes. The aim is to provide liveable, well-serviced and connected urban and rural settlements. By offering affordable and social housing, residents with low and middle incomes will benefit in particular from the project.”

In the first project stage, Sweco will conduct a feasibility study for the development of the new and develop an implementation framework. In the second tage, Sweco will launch and manage on behalf of Rwanda’s Green Fund, Fonerwa, an international urban planning and architectural design competition. In the third stage, Sweco is expected to supervise the realisation of the urban development concept, which is estimated to be completed in 2020.

So far, 620 hectares have been earmarked for the project.

Sweco specialists from Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden will collaborate on the project with Sweco Germany as Lead Consultant. The project is financed by way of a German bilateral development cooperation, KfW Development Bank, and the Green Climate Fund.

Rwanda Green Fund CEO Hubert Ruzibiza said last week: "Building a green urban centre will create a city that is green, low carbon and climate resilient. This in turn will support increasing urbanisation in Rwanda by ensuring we have a robust model that we can learn from to ensure we reach out goals under the National Strategy for Transformation; for urbanisation in Rwanda to be climate resilient and low carbon.”

He added: “Besides the development of the master plan of this site of 620 hectares on the Kinyinya Hill and the promotion of affordable housing as part of it, the feasibility study will uncover electric mobility policy options for Rwanda. In partnership with UNEP, the study aims to develop the policy framework for electric mobility, laying the groundwork for private sector investments to flourish.”